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Download this PDF file for Tips and Best Practices
from Orange County’s
Public Relations and Marketing Professionals. 38 pages of pure PR and marketing brainfood provided by 18 Southern California business experts.
The best conversationalists are not those that talk a lot, they are the ones who know how to listen! When you meet someone new at a meeting, pay attention! Don't interrupt to tell them about your business before they are through. The chances are better that they will listen to you if you have listened to them. Even if they are not a prospect for your service or product, you never know who they may happen to know that could need you.
Just because the person you just met is in a field that is usually incompatible with yours it doesn't mean that they don't have a friend that needs your services. Be polite. Listen. You may miss out on a good opportunity if you don't.
It's happened to all of us and we all hate it, so don't do it. A stranger approaches us and asks us probing and very personal questions about our income or finances or health, you name it. It makes us very uncomfortable. So don't you be the one doing it! Back off and build a relationship first. Then you may earn the right to ask questions of a more personal nature. Or not. (This is a pet peeve--I don't want to discuss my financial past, present or future with someone I just met at a mixer.)
Make your lunch time pay! Instead of chowing down on a burger in your car or at your desk, you can visit our site and on most days find a good choice of networking events to attend. Grab a pocket full of business cards and make your lunch hour a profitable time of day. The food is usually better, too.
Most of us can identify certain types of businesses that are better prospects for our product or service than others. Wouldn't it be helpful if you instantly knew if the person standing next to you was a good prospect? (or a bad one?). Therefore don't you think it would be helpful if others knew what business you were in before listening to your spiel? Everyone could save a lot of time (and we only have time to meet a limited number of people at a meeting so we need to make the best of it). So grab two name badges at the next event. On the second one, state the focus of your business.
(FWIW- I recently attended a huge event co-sponsored by several area Chambers. Most people proudly wore a name badge that displayed their chamber affiliation. None advertised what they did. It may have been good for the Chambers, but it didn't help the attendees. Dumb.)
It has happened more than once that forming an alliance with a competitor will generate additional business. Perhaps you are in the same field, but with a different specialty. For any number of reasons you may find it advantageous to pass or receive clients back and forth. And it also helps to understand how they work and how they attract business.
You will get far more out of networking meetings if you focus on a few groups rather than attend lots of meetings hosted by different organizations. The key to success is being the one that comes to mind when someone in your field is needed. Become known by zeroing in on a group or a couple of groups that you like. Go to all of their functions.
Many networkers become easily discouraged when they don't have a backlog of business after attending a meeting or two. It is indeed a very rare occurrence for you to have people flocking around you trying to hand you money just because you showed up. It takes time for you to get known and for people to gain confidence in you.
I don't mean dye your hair green, but create or emphasize something about yourself that will make you memorable. It could be a slogan or a manner of dress or a unique handout; it really doesn't matter what, so long as you are the person that is thought of when someone in your field is needed.
Inspire confidence by dressing and looking like a professional in your field. 'nuff said.
Mackay's Maxim: When two people exchange dollar bills, each has only one dollar. When two people exchange networks, they each have two networks.
From Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty by Harvey Mackay
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